Mixed martial arts career

Early career

Daley made his professional debut in 2003 and compiled a record of 2-2 before signing with upstart promotion Cage Rage.

Cage Rage

After picking up a TKO win over Jess Liaudin, Daley fought for the Cage Warriors Welterweight Championship against Abdul Mohamed. The fight ended in a draw after five rounds. Daley next fought veteran Paul Jenkins at Cage Rage 11 for the Cage Rage British Welterweight Championship, a rematch of their fight at Cage Warriors 8 which ended in a knockout win for Daley. The two fought to a draw in the rematch.[8][7]

Ultimate Fighting Championship

He later signed a four-fight contract with the UFC, following Affliction’s collapse.[9] Daley’s first fight was scheduled to be on the preliminary card of UFC 103 against Brian Foster, which was due to air on ESPN (UK), prior to the main card.[10] However, on 4 September, it was announced that Paul Daley had agreed to step in for Mike Swick, who suffered an injury during training and was unable to fight top contender Martin Kampmann at UFC 103.

In his UFC debut, Daley put in an aggressive performance, defeating Kampmann via technical knockout due to a barrage of punches.[11]

After failing to make the stipulated 170 lb for the Hazelett fight, Daley was fined 10% of his fight purse.[14] The bout was fought at a catchweight of 172 lbs. Early in the fight Daley dropped Hazelett with a left hook, then followed up with additional punches on the ground knocking Hazelett out cold.

Welterweight contendership

At UFC 113, on 8 May 2010, Daley was placed to fight Josh Koscheck, with the winner destined to become the next challenger against Georges St-Pierre for the UFC Welterweight Championship and the opportunity to coach against St-Pierre on the twelfth season of The Ultimate Fighter.[15]

Koscheck controlled all three rounds, keeping the fight on the ground and neutralizing Daley’s striking. After the end of the third and final round, Daley hit Koscheck in the face with a left hook sucker punch. Referee Dan Miragliotta swung Daley around and pinned him against the fence to subdue him.[16] In an interview at the conclusion of the event, UFC president Dana White announced that he was banishing Daley from the UFC for life. White said, “There’s no excuse for that. These guys are professional athletes. You don’t ever hit a guy blatantly after the bell like that, whether you’re frustrated or not.” He added, “I don’t care if he fights in every show all over the world and becomes the best and everybody thinks he’s the pound-for-pound best in the world, he will never fight in the UFC ever again.” White also said that when he spoke to Daley after the fight, he claimed he didn’t hear the bell.[17][18][19]

Daley apologized for his actions after returning to the United Kingdom, saying that Koscheck’s trash-talking pushed him over the edge, but that there was “no excuse” for his “rash decision.” [20] He was suspended 30 days by the Quebec Athletic Commission.[21]

BAMMA

Daley was supposed to face Yuya Shirai for the BAMMA welterweight belt, but came in over the 170-pound limit for a title bout. The two still headlined the card, but it became a non-title fight.[22] Daley dropped Shirai immediately with a jab, which was his first strike in the fight, and later he dropped him again with an uppercut and left hook before finishing the fight with vicious ground and pound.

Strikeforce

Following his win over Masvidal, Daley signed a multi-fight deal with Strikeforce[23] and made his promotional debut against Scott Smith on 4 December 2010 at Strikeforce: Henderson vs. Babalu II.[24] Smith charged forward as Daley connected with an overhand left hook, sending Smith unconscious face first into the canvas at 2:09 of round 1. In the post fight interview, he called out lightweight K.J. Noons.

Daley fought Nick Diaz on 9 April 2011 at Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley and lost. Daley dropped Diaz twice in the first round of the scheduled five round fight. Daley then fell to the ground after a quick exchange, with the referee ending the bout three seconds from the end of the first round, marking the first time Daley has been stopped by strikes.[25]

Daley was next scheduled to fight twice in just over five weeks. The first bout was against UFC veteran Jordan Radev at BAMMA 7,[32] and the second bout was against UFC and MFC veteran Luigi Fioravanti at Ringside MMA 12 – Daley vs. Fioravanti. Daley won both via unanimous decision.[33]

Daley was going to fight in a kickboxing bout at UCMMA 26 against Luke Sines for his ‘UK1’ Welterweight Championship,[34] however, due to contract obligations, Daley had to pull out of the fight due to contract problems with Strikeforce.

Daley was next scheduled to fight at Bellator 79 in Rama, Ontario, Canada on 2 November against Kyle Baker, but the fight never materialized.

Daley was selected in a fan vote to fight War Machine in the first Bellator fight to be shown on Spike TV, however injury forced his opponent out of the up-coming Welterweight tournament. Daley himself was then removed from the tournament after being barred from entering the United States after being arrested in December in relation to an alleged bar fight in his native England. He faced up to two years in prison if convicted.[37][38] Daley later claimed the charges had been thrown out for lack of evidence, clearing him to apply for a visa to compete within Bellator’s ninth season.[39]

On 25 July, Bellator announced that Daley had been released from the organization due to ongoing legal troubles. Bellator officials had learned that the charges in the bar fight had not been dropped after all. In fact, Daley had pleaded guilty to one count of assault and two counts of obstructing an officer. The violent nature of the incident, combined with the prospect of continued visa problems due to the fact he was now a convicted felon, made Bellator officials decide to cut ties with Daley.[40][41]

Return to BAMMA

On 6 August 2013, it was reported that Daley had signed a 3 fight, 12-month contract with BAMMA.[42] His first fight back in the British promotion was against Romario Manoel da Silva at BAMMA 14 on 14 December. He defeated da Silva by KO at 1:42 of the 2nd round, after dominating the 1st round.[43]

He TKO’d Alexander Surjko at Legend 3: Pour Homme in Milan, Italy on 5 April 2014, dropping the Russian three times in the third round and forcing referee Joop Ubeda to stop the fight.[44]

Daley faced Dennis Olson at Bellator 140 on 17 July 2015.[49] After a back-and-forth first round, he won the fight via TKO in the second round.

In his third fight for Bellator in less than a year, Daley faced Andy Uhrich in the main event at Bellator 148 on 29 January 2016. He won the fight via knockout due to a right uppercut two minutes into the first round.

Daley’s next fight was originally scheduled to be against old rival Josh Koscheck in a rematch at Bellator London as the co-main event on 16 July 2016. On 6 June Koscheck withdrew from the fight for undisclosed reasons and will be replaced in the bout by former Bellator Welterweight ChampionDouglas Lima.[50][51]

Daley next faced Brennan Ward in the co-main event at Bellator 170 on 21 January 2017. He won the fight in spectacular fashion, hurting Ward with a spinning back elbow and then knocking him out with a flying knee in the first round.

Daley faced Rory MacDonald in the main event at Bellator 179 on 19 May 2017. He lost the one-sided fight via rear-naked choke in the second round.[53]

Daley faced Lorenz Larkin at Bellator 183 on 23 September 2017.[54] Despite being stunned multiple times by punches in the first round, Daley turned things around to win the fight via knockout in the second round.

In January 2018, Daley publicly criticized Bellator MMA, stating he would leave the company after his contract was up because he felt the company was not properly utilizing him.[55] A week later on January 25, Daley claimed to have been granted his release from the organisation, something Bellator denied.[56]

On March 2, 2018 Bellator MMA announced that Daley would fight Jon Fitch at Bellator 199 in San Jose, CA.[57] He lost the fight by unanimous decision.

Despite publicly demanding release from Bellator, Daley announced that he had signed a new contract with Bellator on late June, 2018.[58]